Theory: Durkheim and Functionalism

 Émile Durkheim was interested in the social causes of suicide.  Why, he wondered, were some groups more prone to suicide than others? Rather than focus upon the individual reasons for suicide (private troubles) he wanted to understand the social structures influenced the choice for suicide (public problems).  Remember, C. Wright Mills told us that private troubles are "about an individual’s character and with those limited areas of social life of which he is directly and personally aware"(Mills 1967: 395-6).  The trick of the sociological imagination is in understanding the ways that private troubles are sometimes ‘matters that transcend these local environments of the individual and the limited range of his life’ (Mills 1967: 396; Mills 1959: 8) and extend to the level of cultural and social structures.

Before we delve into the types of suicide that Durkheim's study revealed it might help to first think about the way that Durkheim understood society. Durkheim's Sociology is what we would today term Structural Functionalism.  He saw the base state of society as a peaceful state - society (and those within it) are inclined toward homeostasis (internal stability) and functionality.  Durkheim likened society to a machine (mechanical solidarity) or to a body (biological solidarity).  Both concepts point to the ways that individuals within a society interconnect, depend upon, and relate to one and other.  The clip below is from the movie Hugo - in it you will hear a very good description of a structural functional approach to society.


Functionalism - society as a great machine.

"Hugo Cabret: I'd imagine the whole world was one big machine. Machines never come with any extra parts, you know. They always come with the exact amount they need. So I figured, if the entire world was one big machine, I couldn't be an extra part. I had to be here for some reason. And that means you have to be here for some reason, too."

"Hugo Cabret: Maybe that's why a broken machine always makes me a little sad, because it isn't able to do what it was meant to do... Maybe it's the same with people. If you lose your purpose... it's like you're broken."




Hugo's observations reflect the worldview of functionalism, society is meant to function and we all have a part in that society.  If there is conflict or unrest then there is something wrong with society structurally.  Similarly, if an individual cannot find their place within society they will have negative life chances.

Durkheim's Ideas About Suicide

Your assigned reading is about Egoistic suicide, but this is only one of four kinds of suicide that Durkheim described.  Durkheim delineated four types of suicide: Egoistic, Fatalistic, Anomic, and Altruistic.  Durkheim theorized that these different types of suicide resulted from different ways that individuals related (or failed to relate) to society.  These relations can be conceived along two axis: The level of Social Integration and The level of Moral Regulation/Individuation.